cck-02982 The movie was well put together other than the fact that Self Defense was never mentioned as a defense for Ford's character. In the real world, no one would have been convicted or imprisoned for punching someone and causing their death under the same circumstances. Due to this exaggeration, I almost turned the movie off after about ten minutes. I'm glad I stuck with it because it turned out to be a decent movie.

blanche-2 Glenn Ford is "Convicted" in this 1950 film that also stars Broderick Crawford, Dorothy Malone, Frank Faylen, Ed Begley, Carl Benton Reid, Will Geer, and Millard Mitchell. Ford plays Joe Hufford, a war veteran who gets into a bar fight in which a man is killed. Though the DA, Knowland (Crawford) takes pity on him and wishes he had a better attorney, Hufford is sentenced from 1-10 years. Ultimately it's decided he'll serve 5 years, and come up for parole in 3. He's desperate to see his elderly father again, so when some of the other prisoners plan a break, Joe begs to be part of it. Just before his parole hearing, he receives a telegram that his father died. When a guard yells at him for not doing his work in the laundry room, Hufford punches him and winds up in solitary. He misses the escape, which ends up in death for the escapees. Ponti (Faylen) is the snitch who tipped off the guards.When Hufford is released from solitary, there's a new warden - Knowland, the sympathetic DA. He makes Hufford a trustee, chauffeuring his daughter (Malone). When Ponti is killed, Hufford is in the warden's office, but won't reveal who did it, causing him to lose his trustee status and threatening his parole.There's good acting throughout, and a sympathetic portrayal by Ford in this film, which moves quickly. Crawford is excellent as a tough but fair warden. Among the prisoners, veteran actor Faylen, who did such a terrific job as Dobie Gillis' father, does a bang-up job here in a dramatic, showy role. Everyone, though, is very good.As an actor, boyish Glenn Ford didn't have much range, but he was so likable and attractive, it never mattered. His performances are always natural and underplayed, more on the style of today's actors. However, he was much more of a presence than many working today.Good film.

Neil Doyle The more I see of GLENN FORD, the more I appreciate the range of his underrated talent. CONVICTED is a low-budget crime melodrama from Columbia that co-stars BRODERICK CRAWFORD with DOROTHY MALONE and ED BEGLEY in supporting roles.Ford is a victim of circumstance, landing in prison after slugging a man at a nightclub who insults the woman he's dancing with. The man dies and Ford is sent to prison for five years.Crawford becomes the prison's new warden and soon discovers that things aren't being run the way he approves of. It's nice to see Crawford in a sympathetic role as the warden who takes an interest in Ford's prison record and attempts to help him. He asks daughter Dorothy Malone to treat him respectfully when he assigns him to be her chauffeur.The dialog is terse and full of wisecracks and Henry Levin's direction is taut with suspense. There's the usual prison breaks, the prison snitch (FRANK FAYLEN), and suspense building with the usual twists and turns as a prison break is imminent and the snitch is about to get his comeuppance.Summing up: Good dialog and tense situations make this a better than average prison drama. Broderick Crawford is especially strong as the good-hearted warden and Ford is more than competent as the wrongly accused inmate.

rich52 Broderick Crawford plays a district attorney that reluctantly prosecutes a defendant for accidentally killing a man in a fist fight in defense of a lady's honor. Realizing that Ford was being severely under-defended by his own lawyer, Crawford tries to pass every break in the book to the defense attorney, who's too stupid to pick up on it. In the end, Ford is convicted of murder and sentenced to prison. Later, Crawford is assigned as the new warden and attempts to help Ford further.This is a very good, highly underrated movie. It's worth a look.